Pau Lopez left Espanyol last summer on loan to Tottenham for a season, with his contract ending in June 2018. If any other circumstances, Espanyol would have probably worked for a renewal first.
Tottenham, with interest pushed by goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez and manager Mauricio Pochettino, agreed a deal to loan Pau, which would see them use a €7m clause to buy the player this summer. So much was it all set up as sure thing, if Tottenham didn’t use that clause they’d have to pay a €500k ‘fine’.
Given the Pochettino relationship, Espanyol thought they had little to worry about. They were very wrong.
Pau Lopez was worth more a year ago than he is now. Then, he was coming off the back of a season in which he’d played 25 La Liga matches for Espanyol, and he wouldn’t turn 22 years of age until the following December.
Now, he hasn’t featured for Tottenham once over the season, save a 32 minute cameo in Friday’s post season friendly, and his contract runs out next year.
Espanyol have been left dizzy by the situation, and will almost certainly feel naive. Tottenham have a reputation for being difficult, but the Spanish club probably thought the Poch factor would guarantee there’d be no messing around.
Catalan newspaper Sport report the clubs still remain far apart on price. Tottenham have made a new offer over the past couple of days, increasing their €2m bid to €2m with a percentage of a future sale, which would have to be negotiated.
Espanyol want something like €4-5m.
Now, much more than before, the prospect of Pau returning is being taken seriously, and Espanyol would look to extend the player’s contract. He’d be second choice behind Diego Lopez, but he’d be second choice at Spurs anyway.
For the sake of a couple of a million Euro extra, it’s difficult to completely fathom why Spurs are making this so uncomfortable for Espanyol. It would still be a discount from the originally agreed price, it would be a decent transfer fee for a goalkeeper who was very highly rated not so long ago, and it would, probably, be the right thing to do.
Furthermore, given Pochettino talks whenever possible about his feelings for Espanyol, it would avoid annoying the manager.
